Kurt Vonnegut Biography - life, children, story, death, wife, mother, son, book, information, born, college Kurt Vonnegut Biography Indianapolis, Indiana American writer, essayist, and dramatist Kurt Vonnegut is acknowledged as a major voice in American literature and applauded for his subtle criticisms and sharp portrayal of modern society. Early life Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of a successful architect, Kurt Sr., and his wife, Edith Sophia. Vonnegut was raised along with his sister, Alice, and brother Bernard (whom he spoke of frequently in his works). Fourth-generation Germans, the children were never exposed to their heritage because of the anti-German attitudes that had spread throughout the United States after World War I (1914–18; a war in which many European countries, some Middle Eastern nations, Russia, and the United States fought against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey). Because of the Great Depression (the severe economic downturn in the 1930s), the Vonneguts lost most of their wealth and the household was never the same.

Vonnegut's father fell into severe depression and his mother died after overdosing on sleeping pills the night before Mother's Day. This attainment and loss of the "American Dream" would become the theme of many of Vonnegut's writings. After attending Cornell University, where he majored in chemistry and biology, he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in the World War II (1939–45; a war fought between the Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies: England, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States). This would set the stage for another crucial element for his writings when he was taken prisoner by the German army. Following the war, Vonnegut studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later moved to Schenectady, New York, to work as a publicist for the General Electric Corporation. During this period, he also began submitting short stories to various journals, and in 1951, he resigned his position at General Electric to devote his time solely to writing. The novels Vonnegut published several novels throughout the 1950s and 1960s, beginning with Player Piano in 1952.

Player Piano depicts a fictional city called Ilium in which the people have given control of their lives to a computer humorously named EPICAC, after a substance that causes vomiting. The Sirens of Titan (1959) takes place on several different planets, including a thoroughly militarized Mars, where the inhabitants are electronically controlled. The fantastic settings of these works serve primarily as a metaphor (comparison) for modern society, which Vonnegut views as absurd to the point of being surreal (irrational; dreamlike), and as a backdrop for Vonnegut's central focus: the hapless human beings who inhabit these bizarre worlds and struggle with both their environments and themselves. Vonnegut once again focuses on the role of technology in human society in Cat's Cradle (1963), widely considered one of his best Kurt Vonnegut. AP/Wide World Photos . works. The novel recounts the discovery of a form of ice, called ice-nine, which is solid at a much lower temperature than normal ice and is capable of solidifying all water on Earth. Ice-nine serves as a symbol of the enormous destructive potential of technology, particularly when developed or used without regard for the welfare of humanity.

Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut's reputation was greatly enhanced in 1969 with the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five, an antiwar novel that appeared during the peak of protest against American involvement in the Vietnam War (1955–75; when American forces aided South Vietnam in their fight against North Vietnam). Vonnegut described Slaughterhouse-Five as a novel he was compelled to write, since it is based on one of the most extraordinary and significant events of his life. During World War II when he was a prisoner of the German Army, Vonnegut witnessed the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany, which destroyed the city and killed more than one hundred thirty-five thousand people. One of the few to survive, Vonnegut was ordered by his captors to aid in the grisly task of digging bodies from the rubble and destroying them in huge bonfires. Because the city of Dresden had little military value, its destruction went nearly unnoticed in the press. Slaughterhouse-Five is Vonnegut's attempt to both document and criticize this event.

Like Vonnegut, the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five, named Billy Pilgrim, was present at the bombing of Dresden and has been deeply affected by the experience. His feelings develop into spiritual uncertainty that results in a nervous breakdown. In addition, he suffers from a peculiar condition, of being "unstuck in time," meaning that he randomly experiences events from his past, present, and future. The novel is therefore a complex, nonchronological (in no order of time) narrative in which images of suffering and loss prevail. Breakfast of Champions After the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut entered a period of depression during which he vowed, at one point, never to write another novel. He concentrated, instead, on lecturing, teaching, and finishing a play, Happy Birthday, Wanda June, that he had begun several years earlier. The play, which ran Off-Broadway from October 1970 to March 1971, received mixed reviews. There were several factors which could be interpreted as the cause of Vonnegut's period of depression, including, as he admitted, the approach of his fiftieth birthday and the fact that his children had begun to leave home.

Many critics believe that, having at last come to terms with Dresden, he lost the major inspiration for much of his work; others feel that Slaughterhouse-Five may have been the single great novel that Vonnegut was capable of writing. Whatever the cause, Breakfast of Champions marked the end of his depression and a return to the novel. In Breakfast of Champions, as in most of Vonnegut's work, there are very clear autobiographical tendencies. In this novel however, the author seems to be even more wrapped up in his characters than usual. He appears as Philboyd Sludge, the writer of the book, which stars Dwayne Hoover, a Pontiac dealer (Vonnegut once ran a Saab dealership) who goes berserk after reading a novel by Kilgore Trout, who also represents Vonnegut. Toward the end of the book, Vonnegut arranges a meeting between himself and Trout, whom Robert Merrill calls his "most famous creation," in which he casts the character loose forever; by this time the previously unsuccessful Trout has become rich and famous and is finally able to stand on his own.

Later work Breakfast of Champions and Slapstick, or Lonesome No More (1976) both examine the widespread feelings of despair and loneliness that result from the loss of traditional culture in the United States; Jailbird (1979) recounts the story of a fictitious participant in the Watergate scandal of the Richard Nixon (1913–1994) administration, a scandal which ultimately led to the resignation of the president; Galapagos (1985) predicts the consequences of environmental pollution; and Hocus-Pocus; or, What's the Hurry, Son? (1990) deals with the implications and aftermath of the war in Vietnam. In the 1990s, he also published Fates Worse Than Death (1991) and Timequake (1997). Before its release Vonnegut noted that Timequake would be his last novel. Although many of these works are highly regarded, critics frequently argue that in his later works Vonnegut tends to reiterate themes presented more compellingly in earlier works. Nevertheless, Vonnegut remains one of the most-loved American writers. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

is currently teaching advanced writing classes at Smith College, and in November of 2000, he was named the State Author of New York. For More Information Full Glossary for Slaughterhouse-Five Full Glossary for Slaughterhouse-Five Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Adolphe Menjou (1890–1963) twentieth-century film actor known for his character roles; among his films are I Married a Woman (1958) and Step Lively (19441). Appomattox a town in south-central Virginia; on April 9, 1865, at the Appomattox Courthouse, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the American Civil War. Ausable Chasm Located in northeast New York, the chasm was caused by the plunging Ausable River, creating spectacular waterfalls, rushing rapids, and fantastic rock formations. Balkanized a term originally referring to the political division of the Balkans in the early twentieth century; today, it means dividing a region or territory into small units.

bandsaw a power saw for woodworking, consisting of a toothed metal band coupled to and driven around two wheels. Barca-Lounger an upholstered lounge chair similar to a La-Z-Boy recliner. the battle for Hill 875 near Dakto a battle during the Vietnam War beginning November 3, 1967, and lasting 22 days. the Battle of the Bulge the last German offensive on the Western Front during World War II, occurring between December 16, 1944, and January 16, 1945, in the Ardennes region of southern Belgium; "Bulge" refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines before being repulsed back. Breslau also known as Wroclaw, a city in southwest Poland; assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Conference. Bronze Star a U.S. military decoration awarded either for heroism or for meritorious achievement in ground combat. The Brothers Karamazov Written by the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and first published between 1879 and 1880, this novel addresses one dysfunctional family's search for values and unity.

Buchenwald a village in central Germany; site of a Nazi concentration camp during World War IL calcimine a white or tinted liquid used as a wash for walls and ceilings. cannonball stove also referred to as a cannon stove; a round, cast-iron stove, hence the term "cannonball." carbolic acid a poisonous compound used in resins, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. carbon-monoxide poisoning Colorless and odorless, carbon monoxide (CO) is a highly poisonous gas formed by the incomplete combustion of carbonaceous material, such as gasoline. Carlsbad Caverns a group of limestone caverns in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeast New Mexico. Celine Louis-Ferdinand Celine (1894–1961); French writer known for his tortured, angry novels portraying a world without values, beauty, or decency. Charles Darwin (1809–82) British naturalist who developed a theory of evolution referred to today as Darwinism; Darwinism states that all species develop through natural selection based on the ability to survive and reproduce. cockles idiomatically, one's innermost feelings.

Colt .45 automatic the popular name of the .45 caliber Colt U.S. Army M1911 Al semiautomatic pistol; named for Samuel Colt (1814–1862), the American firearms inventor who developed the first revolver. Coventry a city in central England that was heavily bombed by the Germans during World War II, laying waste to over 50,000 homes. Crimea a region and peninsula of southern Ukraine in eastern Europe, on the Black Sea. Croesus the last king of Lydia (560–546 B.C.), an ancient and Roman province in southwest Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea; slang for a wealthy man. croquet an outdoor game in which players, using long-handled mallets, drive wooden balls through a series of wickets. deedlee-balls small balls usually made from yarn; often used as accessory decorations. delousing to get rid of lice by physical or chemical means. derringer pistol a small, short-barreled pistol that has a large bore; named for Henry Derringer (1786–1868), an American gunsmith.

Doric columns heavy columns with plain, saucer-shaped capitals and no base. double pneumonia an acute or chronic disease marked by the inflammation of both lungs. dum-dums hollow-point small-arms bullets designed to expand upon impact, inflicting gaping wounds. Dunkirk a city in northwest France on the North Sea; in World War II, more than 330,000 Allied troops were evacuated from its beaches in the face of enemy fire (May–June 1940). the Dutch Reformed Church a religious organization originating in the Netherlands and known for its belief in predestination. Earl Warren (1891–1974) chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969, during which time the Court ruled on many social issues, including civil rights. Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni Latin, meaning "Alas, the years slip by"; one of the mature observations of the Roman poet Horace (65–8 B.C.). Elbe River a major European river flowing through Germany, including the city of Dresden, and the Czech Republic. flibbertigibbet a silly or scatterbrained person.

fourragere an ornamental braided cord usually looped around the left shoulder of a uniform. Frank Sinatra An American singer and actor born in 1915, he was idolized for his striking good looks and his smooth baritone voice; "ole Blue Eyes" won an Academy Award for his role in From Here to Eternity, a war movie. Frauenkirche a church in Dresden designed by George Bahr between 1726 and 1743; the church was destroyed during the Allied bombing, but its ruins have been kept as a memorial. French doors a pair of doors of light construction, with glass panes extending for most of their length. Gay Nineties the 1890s, an era characterized by a carefree attitude, that all's right with the world. Genoa a city in northwest Italy on an arm of the Ligurian Sea. Gideon Bible the bible used by members of an interdenominational and international society known for placing bibles in hotel rooms. Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832); German writer renowned for his two-part dramatic poem Faust, published in 1808 and 1832.

Golgotha a hill outside ancient Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified; also known as Calvary. the Great Depression the period of drastic decline in the U.S. economy from 1929 to 1940; immortalized in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939). the Green Berets members of a U.S. Army Special Forces outfit known for their heroic deeds during wartime; an elite troop of soldiers trained in counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare. Guggenheim money money from a fund set up in 1925 by Simon Guggenheim and his wife to further the development of scholars and artists by monetarily assisting them in their research endeavors. Harry S Truman (1884–1972) the thirty-third president of the U.S. (1945–53); authorized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan in 1945. Hiroshima the Japanese city destroyed on August 6, 1945, during World War II, when U.S. forces dropped the first atomic bomb in warfare. Nagasaki, another Japanese city, was destroyed three days later by a second atomic bomb. Indian file single file.

Indian Summer a period of mild weather occurring in late autumn. Ivanhoe an 1819 historical romance by Sir Walter Scott about the life of Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a fictional Saxon knight. Jerry a German soldier. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German composer and organist of the late baroque period. John Birch Society an ultra-conservative organization founded by Robert H. W. Welch, Jr., in 1958, and named for a U.S. intelligence officer killed by Chinese Communists soon after the end of World War II. John Wayne (1907–79) American actor known for his ruggedness as a self-styled individualist in Western films; he also starred as the hero in numerous World War II films, including The Sands of Iwo Jima. Konigstein a castle in Dresden in which art treasures were stored during the Allied bombing; also served as a POW camp for important prisoners. Kreuzkirche a church in Dresden destroyed during the Allied bombing on February 13, 1945, but since rebuilt.

Lake Placid a village in northeast New York in the Adirondack Mountains; site of the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980. Leica an expensive German camera introduced in 1924 and still manufactured today; known for the quality not only of the camera itself, but also for its excellent lenses. Leipzig, Chemnitz, Plauen all cities located in east-central Germany, southwest of Berlin. the Lions Club a service club organization founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1917, with member clubs throughout the U.S. Lucretia A. Mott ( 1793–1880); middle initial is C for Coffin, not A as Vonnegut writes American suffragist who advocated that women should have the same rights as men; Mott was instrumental in organizing the first convention for women's rights, held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Lufthansa a German airline company formed in 1926. Luftwaffe saber the ceremonial sword carried by members of the German air force, known as the Luftwaffe before and during World War II.

Luxembourg a country in northwest Europe; created as a duchy in 1354 and declared a neutral territory in 1867. madrigal an unaccompanied vocal composition for two or three voices. Maori a Polynesian people living in New Zealand, an island country in the South Pacific, southeast of Australia. Marseilles a city in southeast France on an arm of the Mediterranean. Martha's Vineyard an island off the southeast coast of Massachusetts known for its fabulously expensive living quarters and as an exclusive vacation resort. Martin Luther (1483–1546) German theologian and leader of the Reformation. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American cleric and civil rights leader in the 1950s and 1960s; winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, four years before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. millipedes insects with long, segmented bodies and two pairs of legs attached to each segment; when they scurry across a surface, they look as if they have a thousand legs.

mince pie a pie made from mincemeat, a mixture of finely chopped apples, raisins, spices, suet, and sometimes flavored with rum or brandy. morphine a drug extracted from opium and generally used as a sedative. mustard gas an oily liquid used in warfare, it blisters the lungs once it is inhaled. Mutt and Jeff comic strip characters, introduced in 1904, who were especially popular in the 1940s; Mutt was short and plump, and Jeff was tall and thin. Norman Mailer American novelist born in 1923; best known for his World War II novel The Naked and the Dead (1948). Palestine often called "the Holy Land"; a historical region between the eastern Mediterranean shore and the Jordan River. the Parthenon the chief temple of the goddess Athena, built on the Acropolis at Athens between 447 and 432 B.C. Pearl Harbor the Hawaiian harbor where most of the U.S. naval fleet was when Japanese planes attacked without warning on December 7, 1941; afterward, the U.S. declared war against Japan.

Pirates of Penzance A comic opera with lyrics by W S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan, it debuted in London on April 3, 1880. Pope Innocent the Third pope from 1198 to 1216. potbellied stove a short, rounded, usually freestanding stove, in which wood or coal is burned. Prussians citizens of a member-state of republican Germany; Prussia was established in 1918 and formally abolished after World War II. Purple Heart a U.S. military decoration awarded to members of the armed forces wounded in action. Queen Elizabeth the First (1533–1603) Queen of England and Ireland (1558–1603) who reestablished Protestantism in England. The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane's 1895 novel about the American Civil War, depicting the psychological turmoil of a cowardly soldier in combat. Robert Kennedy (1925–68) American politician who served as U.S. Attorney General (1961–64) under his brother, President John F.

Kennedy, and, after Kennedy's death, under President Lyndon B. Johnson; assassinated in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan while campaigning for the presidency. rumpus room a room for plays and parties, often in the basement of a house or building. Shetland pony a small pony originating in the Shetland Islands, in northern Scotland. Silesia a region of central Europe primarily in southwestern Poland and the northern Czech Republic. Silver Star a U.S. military decoration awarded for gallantry, or courage. Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) English scientist who invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation. Spanish thumbscrew an instrument of torture used to compress the thumb, causing extreme pain. SPARS Women's Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard; derived from the U.S.

Coast Guard's motto, Semper Paratus, meaning "Always Prepared." "The Spirit of '76" an 1876 oil painting by Archibald MacNeal Willard (1836–1918), called "Yankee Doodle"; it captures the fighting qualities of the colonial troops in the three main figures, two drummers and a fife player. Theodore Roethke An American poet (1908–63), his lyrical verse is characterized by introspection; he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems The Waking: Poems 1933–1953 (1953). Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) the twenty-sixth president of the U.S. 1901–09); won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). The Three Musketeers the three main characters (Athos, Porthos, and Aramis) in Alexandre Dumas' French historical romance The Three Musketeers (1844).

Tiger tank a heavily armored tank, weighing 56 tons and mounting a long 88-mm. gun, used by the Germans during World War II. Tobruk a city in northeast Libya on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Tuileries Gardens the public gardens located in the center of Paris and designed for Louis XIV. Uncle Tom's Cabin A novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published in book form in 1852, it dramatizes the plight of slaves and is often cited as one of the causes of the American Civil War. V-1 a robot bomb deployed by the Germans in World War II. V-2 a long-range, liquid-fuel rocket used by the Germans as a ballistic missile in World War II. vertigo the sensation of dizziness often caused by the fear of heights. Vietnam A country in southeast Asia, it was partitioned into North Vietnam and South Vietnam after 1954, and reunited in 1976 after the end of the Vietnam War (1954–75). Von der Kuppel . . . Das hat der Feind gethan!

German, meaning "From the cupola of the Church of Our Lady, I saw the sad ruins among the beautiful city buildings; the church sexton praised the architect for having built the bombproof church and cupola. Then the sacristan, musing about the ruins that lay all around us, said critically, using few words: 'The devil has done this!' " vox celeste Latin, meaning "celestial voice." vox humana Latin, meaning "human voice." WACS Women's Army Corp. WAFS Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. WAVES Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service. William Blake (1757–1827) English poet and engraver, perhaps best known for his book of poems Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794). Slaughterhouse Five Essay - 3281 Words a) Public and social significance b) Literary value c) Short summary of novel d) Young American lives “Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade” (1969) is one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most famous autobiographical works about the bombing of Dresden during World War II.

Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer, satirist and painter who was honored to be called “a writer of New York” in 2001-2003. The novel is written in the so-called “Vonnegut’s” “telegraphic, schizophrenic” style. It combines a strong narrative plot and philosophy, science fiction and the grotesque, burlesque and lampoon. After the bombing of the port Pearl Harbor, Kurt Vonnegut, voluntarily joined the U.S. armed forces and participated in World War II. In 1944 he was captured during the Ardennes counter-offensive operation of the German troops and was sent to Dresden, where he and other prisoners worked at a factory that produced malt syrup with vitamins for pregnant women. And it was Dresden, where Vonnegut was destined to obtain his most terrible war experience. On the 13th and 14th of February 1945, he witnessed the firebombing of Dresden by aircraft of allied troops. Kurt Vonnegut was among seven American POWs who survived that day in Dresden.

Prisoners were locked for the night in a Broken City slaughterhouse number 5, and during the bombing were taken away to the basement, which contained meat carcasses. There were almost no real shelters in the city, because Dresden was not strategically an important goal. Narrowly escaping from being killed by their own aircraft, Vonnegut had fully known the horror of war, when together with other prisoners, had to dismantle the ruins and pulled out a thousand corpses from under the debris. Vonnegut was freed by the Red Army in May 1945. According to the writer, the bombing of Dresden was not caused by military necessity. Most of those killed in that operation were civilians; residential areas and monuments were destroyed. Vonnegut, being against fascism, does not recognize that the destruction of Dresden was a “punishment” for the crimes of the Nazis. The novel was censored in the U.S.; it was listed as a “harmful” book and taken out of libraries. Slaughterhouse is a “powerful and popular work that is sure to attract many listeners” (Rasmussen 2004).

At the beginning of the novel there is described the idea of the book is about the bombing of Dresden. The author complains that he cannot think of the right words for this book, which he thought to be his main work. To make the plan of his future book, he met with his brother-soldier Bernard O’Hare. O’Hare’s wife Mary was very angry after learning about the idea of the book about the war, because all those books contained an element of glorification of war - a cynical lie, supporting new wars. The conversation of Vonnegut and Mary is a key episode in the beginning of the novel; he explains why the book about Dresden came out such a strange, short, and confused work, that does not prevent it from being anti-war. Also from this dialogue, it becomes clear where the second title... Slaughterhouse Five Essay ...Failure to take responsibility for one's actions is universally seen as a self-inflicted wound with fateful consequences. However in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, the very nature of social responsibility and free will is challenged. The Tralfamadorians, an alien race from a distant planet, capture protagonist Billy Pilgrim, and introduces him to the fourth dimension.

As Billy travels through time and learns that events in time are structured to be inevitable... 994 Words | 3 Pages Essay on Slaughterhouse Five An Amazing Story ...been inspired to write stories, poems, or songs about war. Many of these examples tend to reflect feelings against war. Kurt Vonnegut is no different and his experience with war inspired him to write a series of novels starting with Slaughter-House Five. It is a unique novel expressing Vonnegut's feelings about war. These strong feeling can be seen in the similarities between characters, information about the Tralfamadorians, dark humor, and the structure of the novel.... 1421 Words | 4 Pages Slaughterhouse Five Book Review Essay ...Slaughterhouse Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim who has become “unstuck in time.” Young Billy is born and raised in Ilium, New York, he is "tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola," and studying to be an optometrist. He is drafted into the U.S. military and despite his scrawny, weak build, he is sent to Europe to fight.

While fighting in Germany, Billy is all of a sudden sent to 1968, where the plane he was on has crashed into the mountains of... 1543 Words | 4 Pages The Theme of Time in Slaughterhouse Five Essay ...keep the story at a smooth pace. Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five, uses time as a way to give the reader an idea of what his main character’s life was like and what he had gone through throughout his life. Vonnegut’s manipulation of time may make the story confusing to some at times, but he effectively explains his character’s background through this different use of time. Throughout the plot of Slaughterhouse-Five,... 993 Words | 3 Pages Essay on Slaughterhouse Five analysis of symbolism, imagery, figurative language, tone, and theme. ...Slaughterhouse Five SIFTT Sean Lawson Period 1 Slaughterhouse Five, a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, contains numerous examples of symbolism, imagery, figurative language, tone, and theme. The story isn't very chronological, every thing happens bunched up together. There are numerous settings in the novel.

A large portion of the action of the story occurs in the small town of Ilium, New York, where Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of... 1179 Words | 4 Pages Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut Essay ...Throughout Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut chooses to use special literary techniques that better explain his own encounters in war as well as help his readers bare the horridness of war. Vonnegut adds black humor in his text to benefit readers as well as “an author-as-character” perspective to set barriers and help protect his own memories in the war. Without adding these two specific devices, Vonnegut could possibly have lost reader’s interests in the book or lost... 1418 Words | 4 Pages The Destructiveness of War in Slaughterhouse-Five Essay ...to write Slaughterhouse-Five, a fictionalized account of the fire bombing of Dresden and about the destructiveness of war. Slaughterhouse-Five has been widely criticized and condemned, and according to June Edwards, “The book is an indictment of war, criticizes government action, is anti-American, and is unpatriotic.”(Schmidt, 121).

These charges and accusations just help support Vonnegut’s idea that different political ideologies help... 1383 Words | 4 Pages Slaughterhouse-Five ...have been as enduring over time as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a personal novel which draws upon Vonnegut's experience's as a scout in World War Two, his capture and becoming a prisoner of war, and his witnessing of the fire bombing of Dresden in February of 1945 (the greatest man-caused massacre in history). The novel is about the life and times of a World War Two veteran named Billy Pilgrim. In... 1170 Words | 3 Pages Background Behind Slaughterhouse Five English Literature Essay Background Behind Slaughterhouse Five English Literature Essay Published: Last Edited: 23rd March, 2015 This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" (1969) is one of the Kurt Vonnegut's most famous autobiographical works about the bombing of Dresden during World War II.

Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer, satirist and painter who was honored to be called "a writer of New York" in 2001-2003. The novel is written in the so-called "Vonnegut's" "telegraphic, schizophrenic" style. It combines a strong narrative plot and philosophy, science fiction and the grotesque, burlesque and lampoon. Name and background After the bombing of the port Pearl Harbor, Kurt Vonnegut, voluntarily joined the U.S. armed forces and participated in the World War II. In 1944 he was captured during the Ardennes counter-offensive operation of the German troops and was sent to Dresden, where he and other prisoners worked at a factory that produced malt syrup with vitamins for pregnant women. And it was Dresden, where Vonnegut was destined to obtain his most terrible war experience. On the 13th -14th of February 1945, he witnessed the firebombing of Dresden by aircraft of allied troops. Kurt Vonnegut was among seven American POWs who survived that day in Dresden.

Prisoners were locked for the night in a Broken City slaughterhouse number 5, and during the bombing were taken away in the basement, which contained meat carcasses. There were almost no real shelters in the city, because Dresden was not strategically important goal. Narrowly escaped from being killed by their own aircraft, Vonnegut had fully known the horror of war, when, together with other prisoners had to dismantle the ruins and pulled out a thousand corpses from under the debris. Vonnegut was freed by the Red Army in May 1945. According to the writer, the bombing of Dresden was not caused by military necessity. Most of those killed in that operation were civilians; residential areas and monuments were destroyed. Vonnegut, being against fascism, does not recognize that the destruction of Dresden was a "punishment" for the crimes of the Nazis. Novel was censored in the U.S., he was listed as "harmful" book and taken out of libraries. Slaughterhouse is a "powerful and popular work that is sure to attract many listeners" (Rasmussen 2004).

Plot summery At the beginning of the novel there is described the idea of the book about the bombing of Dresden. The author complains that he can not think of right words for this book, which he thought to be his main work. To make the plan of his future book, he met with his brother-soldier Bernard O'Hare. O'Hare's wife Mary was very angry after learning about the idea of the book about the war, because all those books contained an element of glorification of war - a cynical lie, supporting new wars. The conversation of Vonnegut and Mary is a key episode in the beginning of the novel; he explains why the book about Dresden came out such a strange, short, confused, that does not prevent it from being an anti-war. Also from this dialogue, it becomes clear where the second title of the novel came from. As a result, the novel was dedicated to Mary O'Hare (and the Dresden taxi driver Gerhard Mueller) and written in the "telegraphic schizophrenic-style", as Vonnegut expressed himself. The book includes the close interrogation of realism, grotesque, fantastic elements of insanity, cruel satire and irony.

As David Peck writes, "at the center of this blackly humorous work of science fiction about time travel and interplanetary travel is a deadly serious novel about the wastes of war" (Peck 2003). The main character is an American soldier Billy Pilgrim, an odd, shy, disoriented, fatalistic, ill-trained and apathetic person. By the way, the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five is named Billy Pilgrim for a purpose. As a contemporary mutation of the "Puritan saints of early New England, he is a representative of their particular capitalist legacy, while his story takes the forms of both English and New England Puritan captivity and conversion narratives" (Hinchcliffe 2001). The book describes the adventures of Billy at war and the bombing of Dresden, which has left an indelible imprint on the mental state of Pilgrim. Vonnegut introduced a fantastic element into the novel: the life events of the protagonist are considered through the prism of post-traumatic stress disorder - a syndrome peculiar to war veterans, who mutilated the perception of a hero really. As a result, comic "story about the aliens" grows into a coherent philosophical system.

Aliens from the planet Tralfamador take Billy Pilgrim to their planet and tell him that the time does not really "flow", there is no causal gradual transition from one event to another - a world and time are given once and forever and it is know everything that happened and will happen. On someone else's death tralfalmadors just say: "Such cases". It is impossible to say why or why something happened - this was "the structure of the moment." So artistic way explains the composition of the novel - it is not the story of successive events, going in order, but a set of Pilgrim's life episodes happening without any order. He learned from the aliens how to travel forward and backward in time, and each episode is such a journey. Here are some of the moments in which Pilgrim was sent with the stream of time: - Childhood psychological trauma (fear from the Grand Canyon, the first bad experience of swimming). - Long trip on winter forest with several other soldiers. Fighting off competition from the squad, they are forced to wander in unfamiliar places. It is an autobiographical moment (though, like many others in the book). - Captivity and the events in the British POW camp.

- The work in Dresden, a settlement on Slaughterhouse 5, and the bombing, that destroyed the city in one night. Fine artistic progress - further developments, such as meeting with aliens, can be explained from the standpoint that Billy just went crazy - the numerous emotional upsets, the largest of which is the moment of the bombing, which had accumulated in the hero in the end, after many years have resulted a lowering of consciousness (Reed 1996). - Events after the war - a quiet measured life with the ugly but kind and sympathetic wife. Wealth that Pilgrim didn't want came to him from the sphere of ophthalmic medicine. -A meeting with aliens - flight to Tralfamador and exhibiting of Billy Pilgrim as a resident of the zoo for the amusement of the aliens. There he was paired with former film star Montana Uayldbek. - Mental hospital. There Billy became acquainted with Eliot Rosewater and Kilgore Trout books. - Death of Pilgrim from sniper's bullet after a Pilgrim's seminar, where he spreads the ideas, learned from tralfamadors. As a traveler in time, Billy many times saw his own death, and predicted it in every detail.

So, protagonist of the Kurt Vonnegut's book "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" is an American soldier Billy Pilgrim, a survivor of the bombing of Dresden and who turned out to be an unwitting traveler in the time of his own live. His long post-war fate was divided into endless trips in time; in a result a picture of his life, the meaning of death and awareness of the person's fate and humanity were seen by him in unusual form. Living his dashed destiny, he understands why God is silent, looking at the greatest atrocities of some people and tortures of others, why he is silent and does not interfere, and what is the meaning of this silence (Mustazza 1994). In addition to Billy Pilgrim in the novel there are a number of specific characters and elements that together make up the universe or mythology of Vonnegut. It is a science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout, in which the author portrays himself using ironic tone; Eliot Rosewater - a millionaire, with hypertrophied conscience; Tralfamadors - creatures that live in four dimensions. Separate books are devoted to these creatures, but somehow the mention of them is present in most novels of Kurt.

Analysis Written in 1969, the novel of Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" was supposed to be the principal book of the author. But it did not happen - there are a lot of Vonnegut's more powerful works, but it is "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" that will forever remain the book of great importance. In the process of its creation he was filled with so much feeling and emotion that simply couldn't bring all of them to the reader. But even the facts that were included to the novel deserve close interest, at least because "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" is the book based on Vonnegut's own biography. The author participated in World War II, joining the ranks of the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. One of the highlights of his career in the army was bombing of Dresden by American troops. Almost dying from the hands of his own liberators, Vonnegut devoted "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" to the raid on that town. The idea of the novel was hatched and could not take shape for several years.

This happened only after a conversation with his brother-soldier's wife, who insisted that even the anti-militarist literature provokes mankind to the new war, massacre of young men. In "Slaughterhouse Five" there is no a hint of glorification and romanticization of the soldier image - instead, the reader see tired people, crippled mentally and physically to the limit, who really do not understand, what for is a battle. Even the most courageous, brave soldiers Vonnegut shows as reckless madmen whose determination raised a grotesque degree. Nothing, except the curve grins, such characters do not cause. By the way, it was accounted that the "oblique manner of Vonnegut's retelling has also confused leaders in identifying the authorial persona in the book" (O'Sullivan 1976). The plot, as it was mentioned above, is largely autobiographical. Through the eyes of his hero Vonnegut once again looks at the events that happened to him during the World War II. This hero is an emotionally unstable American soldier, whose psyche completely undermines the very bombing of Dresden. Subsequently, he finds himself in a psychiatric hospital.

The composition of the "Slaughterhouse Five" deserves special attention. Vonnegut does not give the reader a story that would have developed more or less consistently. Instead, he offers a new concept of time flow. According to the story, the hero turns out to be in contact with the aliens who explain to him that the linear flow of time does not exist. There is only this moment, which is static and does not flow into the next. Respectively, moving in time is not an attempt to swim faster in the river stream or turn toward it, but just jumping from one moment to another. That is how the main character travels, and these movements invite reader to follow. Thus, the novel is a collection of time slices, which, moreover, are in random order. However, this only exacerbates the perception of the book, which, inter alia sustained in the "original" style of Kurt Vonnegut - impeccable style, a bit of irony and good humor. The novel has some anti-militarist views, the author shows the weakness of man in front of the infinite and the heartless world of evil and violence, suffering and senseless victims (an idea of the absence of any free will once and forever).

It is worth mentioning that the novel is written with the use of "aesthetic and moral system" (Merrill 1990). Stereotypes of "real men", "tough guys", "heroes", usually found in books about the war, in Vonnegut's absurdly are perverted and are represented in parody images of captured British and Roland Weary, causing a crooked smile. There is no division into "our army" and "enemies" - the Germans are shown as ordinary people, incredibly tired of the war, the same as Americans. Actually the bombing of Dresden in the novel is not shown, although the author says that the whole book is about it. Even the consequences of the bombing are described very blurry. The impression is that Vonnegut pulls a conversation about it, is drowning in his preface episodes. In fact, he just has nothing to say. War in general and the bombing of Dresden in particular are seen by the author as a monstrous absurdity that can not even adequately described. Vonnegut is unable to comprehend the disease of mankind, leading to wars, and his book solidifies on the stage of design.

Bombing of Dresden is shown in the novel as it was - a black hole, emptiness. Dressed in a word, emptiness would lose its status (Bloom 2001). Adaptation In 1972, the American director George Roy Hill directed the movie "Slaughterhouse Five" - an exact adaptation of the novel. The film changed some evens from the novel; not all characted of the novel are included in the film. So, the film doesn't include Kilgore Trout, the science fiction writer who appears in three Vonnegut novels (Nelson 1973). After all, the film won the Prix du Jury at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, as well as a Hugo Award, and Saturn Award. In an interview to the magazine Film Comment in 1985, Kurt Vonnegut said: "I am very grateful to George Roy Hill and company Universal Pictures, which created a flawless adaptation of my novel "Slaughterhouse Five".

Every time I watch this film, I drool and giggle with joy because it is unusually harmonious with the feelings that I experienced when I wrote this novel." For the most part, the script by Steven Heller almost completely corresponds to the source, and the thematic focus of the film adaptation is close to perfection, despite some omissions and discrepancies with the book. In 1996, a theatrical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel was premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, IL. It was written and directed by Eric Simonson. The play has been performed in several other theaters including a January 2008 New York premiere production at the Godlight Theatre Company. The operatic adaptation made by Hans-Jürgen von Bose, was premiered in July 1996 at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Conclusion The book "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" is the best novel of a remarkable American writer named Kurt Vonnegut. Moreover, it is not about artistic merits of the works, and its public and social significance for American society and the role of the text in the creative destiny of the author.

As to its literary value, so it is rather unusual story, and there is no doubt it deserves attention of all who are interested in science fiction, postmodernism and literature about war. Such a wonderful combination of styles is reflected in the "telegraph-schizophrenic" manner of presentation, allowing the author to distance himself from the scene, speaking at the same time as one of the characters. Kurt Vonnegut novel "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" is written like an impressionist painting, that consists of microscopic smear-points, sparing as telegrams, folding into a coherent and penetrating picture only at a distance. This removal of the reader from the text and the author from the novel indicates the main idea of the work: any event and the state, any reversal of fortune, from birth to death, any happiness or misery is just one of the peaks in the endless chain of mountains of time. It is this top that always has been, is and always will be. The only problem is that our one-dimensional thinking doesn't allow us to see not only the mountain range, but even one of its top, e.g. present moment.

We do not live, but only peek in on a tiny particle of life through the keyhole, in the full conviction that this is real life. On this philosophical context, a fantastic plot of Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" is built. The plot of the novel "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" is directly linked to its title. During World War II, Kurt Vonnegut was in German captivity and witnessed the greatest disaster of the era. In February 1945 he experienced the bombing of the German city Dresden. During just few hours more than 100,000 civilians were killed in front of him. This is more than claimed Hiroshima. At the time of the bombing, captured Americans were locked in the basement of the Dresden massacre, number 5, and it saved their lives. And after that they were forced to rake the debris. Those soldiers were boys, almost children. And there was no any heroism, bravado, a feat no humor, honor and conscience on that war. There were fear, death, blood, dirt, tears, groans, cruelty, bestialization.

And the mountain of corpses, stinking, bloated, burning funeral pyre in all areas, the mountains of dead men and women, boys and girls, old men and women, mountains of bodies collected by crying and dying beardless boys. Because any war - in such its extreme manifestations or in each fired bullet - it is a war of children who are sent to it by intelligent adults to kill each other. The novel "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade" was released at the height of antiwar sentiment, becoming the literary manifesto of American society in the fight against the Vietnam War. Due to this coincidence, the book became a cultural icon of its time, touching many young Americans.

Question: Slaughterhouse-Five, the 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut, is set against the backdrop of the Allied bombing of which German city during World War II?
Answer: Dresden